


Strategy Time

by obisgirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-04
Updated: 2012-05-04
Packaged: 2017-11-08 18:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/446304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obisgirl/pseuds/obisgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle finds an old fantasy board game at work and brings it home for her and Mr. Gold to play. Mr. Gold is the Evil Queen and Little Red Riding Hood, while Belle plays as Rumpelstiltskin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strategy Time

It’s an uneventful work day, leaving Belle mostly dusting stuff in the shop.  George is in the back, taking an extended inventory of everything in the store.  Belle finishes cleaning early and sets about re-arranging things. 

As she is doing so, she finds an old fantasy board game behind the register. She laughs a bit, but not too loudly otherwise George would think that she is slacking off.  Belle opens the cover, taking a peak at the board and grins even wider once she recognizes the layout.

Perfect.

~~

She finishes work early that day, mostly because George closes the shop.  Belle asks about the board game if she can buy it from him.  One look at the board game and he says she could have it since he hated board games and didn’t know why they even had one in the shop.

Belle hurries home right away and immediately sets down the game on the kitchen table and starts reading the playing directions.

Mr. Gold arrives home around 4pm, finding Belle in the kitchen, still studying the game directions.  He takes note of the game board before clearing his throat, forcing her to look at him. “Oh good, you’re home! I found this at George’s shop, buried and thought it would be fun to try out,” she muses.

“A board game?”

“Not just any board game,” Belle exclaims excitedly, “Did you see the layout of the board?”

“Yes, I did,” Gold adds, “It looks exactly like…I’m sorry, where did you find this again?”

“In George’s bookstore,” Belle repeats, “C’mon, sit down.” She lays out the play pieces and it isn’t lost upon Mr. Gold whom each piece represents: Snow White, the Evil Queen, Prince Charming, Red Riding Hood, Maleficent (Rumpelstiltskin, Belle).

Mr. Gold looks seriously at her. “You’re joking right? We’re a board game now?”

Belle shrugs.  “Don’t make fun until you’ve tried it,” she retorts, her eyes hovering over the play pieces. “Now, I’ll be Rumpelstiltskin!”

“Wait a minute, how come you get to be Rumpelstiltskin when I’m Rumpelstiltskin?!” he cries.

Belle smirks at him. “I thought you weren’t interested?”

Mr. Gold scowls. “If you get to be Rumpelstiltskin, I will be the Evil Queen,” he muses, sitting down across from her.

“I also call Prince Charming and Snow White,” Belle adds.

“And since when do we get to be multiple characters?”

Belle shrugs. “Well, there’s only the two of us…”

Gold straightens his tie. “Very well then, I’m also Red Riding Hood since my power is that I can change into a wolf anytime I need to so I can defend myself against any attack and I have super-hearing and an enhanced smelling ability,”

Belle waves a finger. “But only during a full moon, which doesn’t happen until after four turns,” she says proudly.

~~  
 _  
40 minutes later…_

Mr. Gold eyes narrows as he studies the current board.  For a first time player, Belle is good.  She managed, along with Prince Charming to take control of the Enchanted Forest, using George’s army and captured Maleficent, who happened to be one of his generals and was quickly closing in on the Queen.

“I use the Maleficent’s fairy dust on your ogres and strike them all down, turning them into cock roaches and Prince Charming squashes them all,” Belle says triumphantly, “That’s ten points for me,”

“You used the fairy dust last round to put the dwarves to asleep, you can’t use it again!”

Belle shrugs. “It’s a special fairy dust. It replenishes when it is needed,” she defends.

“And where does it say it does that, my dear?”

Belle looks through her cards and pulls out the one about the fairy dust and shows it to him. “Any player who uses enchanted fairy dust may use this card to replenish it whenever they need to at any point during their turn,” he reads. “That is totally unfair,”

“I don’t make up the rules, dearie,” she teases.

“Fine,” Gold seethes, “You take down the ogres with your fairy dust but I can re-awaken them, and give  
them orders to attack the Dark Castle,”

“And why are you attacking my Dark Castle?” Belle cries.

“Because you’ve stolen something of mine and I want it back,”

~~  
 _  
Another 10 minutes later…_

“You want to steal what?!” Belle asks incredulously.

Mr. Gold shrugs. “I need it to kill Snow White,”

“You want to steal a poisonous apple to kill the Snow White,” Belle manages, “You’re little Red Riding Hood! You turn into a werewolf on your next turn. Why don’t you just unleash Red on her instead of using an apple, which by the way, can be broken with true love’s kiss especially since the apple is just a vessel for the sleeping curse,”

“It makes perfect sense to use the apple because all I do is go around between gathering supplies for Granny’s house and helping Snow White,”

Belle shakes her head. “Whatever, I will block you from trying to steal the poisonous apple by enacting a protection curse,” she says.

Mr. Gold grins again. “You know dearie, all magic has its limitations, even protection curses.  You use up all your strength, you will lose all your valuable power points which you need to help Charming retake King George’s castle,”

“I have Cinderella’s fairy godmother’s wand which I can use on myself to boost my power points,”

~~

_15 minutes later…_

Belle can’t contain her smile and glee: she successfully secured Maleficent’s Forbidden Fortress, taken control of the Evil Queen’s army and had the Evil Queen cornered in the Enchanted Forest. And she used a reverse spell on the waters from Lake Nostos to strip the Evil Queen of her powers.

Mr. Gold had very few options to save himself.  All his allies were lost and he was powerless to stop Belle’s assault. Even the ogres abandoned him.

“Darling?” Belle asks.

“I’m thinking,” he snaps, “Trying to asses my remaining assets, if I even have any,”

He lost Little Red during the previous round as she joined Snow White and Prince Charming’s forces. 

“Sweetheart?”

Mr. Gold sighs. “What are my options?” he asks finally.

“You’ve already been stripped of your powers thanks to my reversal spell, you lost control of your army, Maleficent is of no use to you anymore,” Belle muses, “I could be lenient and let you live but that would be too dangerous,”

He looks up at her hopefully. “My other choice?” he wonders.

“Banishment,”

Mr. Gold raises an eyebrow, “To where?”

Belle looks at the available cards in her hand. Oddly enough, Storybrooke is a place option, along with the Wailing Caves beyond the West Mountains and a green wormhole. “Okay,” Belle reasons, “I have three cards in my hand. Pick your destination,”

“Seriously? Are any of them good?”

Belle shrugs. “Not really, but least I’ve given you the option to choose your own destiny,” she says.

Mr. Gold doesn’t like being on the bad end of a deal but he knows he can’t survive in the Enchanted Forest forever. Eventually, Snow White and Prince Charming’s forces will flush him out. He picks the second card.

“What does it say?”

Mr. Gold sighs. “I am banished to the Wailing Caves beyond the West Mountains, where I will live in eternity, listening to the howling winds, forever lost in my own despair of defeat (and shame),”

“I’m sorry dearie,” Belle coos, patting his right hand. But then, a big grin forms on her face. “You know what this means, right?”

“What?”

“I win the game!!” Belle exclaims.

Mr. Gold isn’t happy but one look at Belle’s smiling face lightens his mood. “All right, let’s play again,” he proposes and Belle looks at him oddly. “What?”

“I thought that you hated this,”

“I don’t dislike it but I hate being on the bad end of a deal,” he muses, “and this time I get to play myself,”

Belle smirks as she clears the board and sets up a new game.

The End  



End file.
